Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Gilmore Girls Returns and TV That Never Ends

If you're a Gilmore Girls fan and you spend any sort of time on the Internet, you know now that long-suffering fans will finally get the resolution they've been fan fic-ing since the show ended in 2007. GILMORE GIRLS IS RETURNING. For a limited run on Netflix!

Gilmore Girls

Hardcore fans know the series was troubled when the network let go of series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino before the uneven last season. While the show managed an adequate send-off, many fans were upset at the lack of resolution for their favorite characters. And now, because TV makes our dreams come true, any series can live forever. Shows once thought to be put to rest have been creeping back: 24 and Arrested Development, and more to come: my personal fave The X-Files, Heroes (eh), Full House, and Coach.* Because sometimes TV brings back what no one asked for. *Coach, by the way, is a show that ran for NINE SEASONS and filmed almost 200 episodes, but apparently someone thought there were more stories to tell. It looks like NBC has scrapped the project but possibly another new network could pick it up.I've got to be honest, though. There's no way I'm NOT watching Mulder and Scully again. Sign me up.

While it's amazing and wonderful that streaming services are resuscitating shows like Community and The Mindy Project (and how about Hannibal? Anyone? Anyone?), it seems like our culture has reached the point where we are unable to let go of TV shows. Any show in danger of cancellation, a fan group exists somewhere to start a petition to get the show saved. Actors themselves go on social media declaring they'd be game to come back if networks play along. Conventions stage reunions that bring actors back together. We all want what's already ended. The very talented TV writer Todd Vanderwuff wrote a great article about our inability to let go of our pop culture devotions. (I searched The AV Club site for it and can't find it. If I ever do I'll link it.) It's like we are gluttons for punishment. Instead of envisioning our beloved characters living a happily ever after somewhere free of government conspiracies or that pesky Stars Hollow mayor, we want to drag them all back, put them through the wringer to suffer again. After all, stories need conflict. You can't bring your TV show back and show everyone living happily with no problems to challenge them.Every time a show comes back from the grave, even a show I like such as Gilmore Girls, I have to wonder if a resurrection will ever satisfy what it is we really want. I imagine we all want Luke and Lorelai to be married. Many want Rory to get together with Jess (I'm a no on that). That being said, here's a few wishlist items I posted on twitter:

And finally, a wish I hope is already on the show creators' minds:

That's all these are: wishes. Musings and nostalgia. The new age of TV and social media is making it so that we never leave our TV heroes behind. The bigger question is, should we?What do you think of all the resurrected TV shows? Which ones will you watch?